As WP's senior editor, I edit review and preview articles, attempt to keep up with the frantic pace of Rainier's news posts, and keep our reviewers on deadline, which is akin to herding cats. When I have a moment to myself and don't have my nose in a book, I like to play action/RPG, adventure and platforming games.

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'Prince of Persia: Warrior Within' (NGC/PS2/Xbox/PC) - Developer Q&A

Hunted by Dahaka, an immortal incarnation of Fate seeking divine retribution, the Prince embarks upon a path of both carnage and mystery to defy his preordained death. His journey leads to the infernal core of a cursed island stronghold harboring mankind's greatest fears. Only through grim resolve, bitter defiance and the mastery of deadly new combat arts can the Prince rise to a new level of warriorship - and emerge from this ultimate trial with his life.

Q : Will the soundtrack be similar to the one in 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.' What is its role in building a fully immersive game ?

JP : Sound wise, the game will be darker and more raw in terms of sounds and music. Even if some sounds were kept from the previous opus, most of it had to be re-done entirely. The Prince is now more brutal in his action and we tried to support that with sounds as well as with music.

Q: What’s the mix of music we’ll have in this game, can you give a percentage of exploratory/heavy metal/no music in 'Prince of Persia: Warrior Within' ?

JP : You will have a variety of music and ambiances in the game, I would say that you would have around 40% of each, there will be as much action oriented cues as well as exploration, the rest will be cover with rich environmental ambiances. The direction we took is darker and the middle-eastern elements are more subtil this time around and are mostly found in the exploration cues. There will also be more minutes of music overall.

Q : Apparently the game features Godsmack titles, why did you choose to work with this band ? How do you actually use it in the game?

JP : The idea came at the beginning of the game, while searching a new direction in term of music for the game, one of Godsmack title was used as a reference in an action sequence. But listening to what was only a reference, a lot people internally say: ‘that’s exactly what we want for the final game’. So we contacted Godsmack, and they knew us and were excited by the project. Eventually, 2 pieces from Godsmack are used in the game, in game play situations.

Q :People say the change of style compared to 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time' is too radical. Has this been done intentional?

JP : In fact, that was the main goal at the beginning; what we wanted to do in terms of game was to change the mood we had, compared to the previous opus. We wanted to have a different music approach with having more music cue for the different events that will happen in the game. We wanted to create some gloomy atmospheric music cues and get the action sequences more on the edge with harder rock cues. The players will be able to find a bigger variety of music than in Prince of Persia The Sands of Time.

And yes, we knew that - given the success of Prince of Persia The Sands of Time- some people would be reluctant to see so many changes in Prince of Persia Warrior Within. But it’s our philosophy: we want to take risks; we don’t want to give fans just ‘more of the same’. Some brands do this: their sequels offer just more maps and a couple of new moves … it’s not our choice. We want to do this additional effort in order to surprise them and gain their respect and faith.

It’s true that, in the past months, we’ve communicated a lot on the more hard-rock music, to really show the new mood of the game, but as I said above, gamers have to know that in-game, they will have the same proportion of hard-rock music and of atmospheric / exotic music, as we really want to please our fans and also new gamers !

To those who think we are going too far, I say: play the final game, get the whole picture, and then, do not hesitate to send us your feedback on forums, that’s the best way to help us improve ! ?

Q : Do you find that working on a game is different from working on a film or a piece of music that's meant to be the focus of attention?

JP : It's different in a way that movies are linear and you know what will happen and when it will happen but in videogames the player controls what will happen in some way. He will be the one triggering the events trough the adventure so the goal is to place music events in his possible paths to support what is happening at this point in his adventure.